I don’t know about you, but whenever there’s good news and bad news, I prefer to hear the bad news first!

So, the bad news is that this year, for the first time we have to work past the Christmas holidays. In fact, if it was really bad news, I’d have to work on Dec. 26th, which back home is still a pretty full fledged Christmas holiday, called the “2. Christmas Holiday.” Fortunately, the good news about the bad news is that I can choose to not work on Wednesday, and work on Thursday (the 27th) instead.

So far the bad news. Now to the good news …

The good news is that this year, because none of us have their family around, among our friends we decided to have a real deal gift exchange. (Of course, not being able to celebrate Christmas with family is the bad news of the good news!) Anyhow, since we’re always trying to make the best of things, I think it’s a pretty splendid idea to have a Christmas gift exchange. Especially, because I was able to convince my friends that doing the White Elephant with items the giver no longer wants (in other words: giving away trash) is not such a good idea. And so, I’m happy that this year, we will have a really sweet (or sweetly real) gift exchange. But it also made me realize the other day that I need, indeed, to go shopping for a Christmas gift. So, today I packed myself up, hopped on the bus and went into town to find myself something suitable for the friend whom I have the honor to be gifting. And after I accomplished that successfully, now all I need to do is wait for Christmas to come …